


Night of the Torchbearer

by DiamondFears



Category: Torchbearers D&D Podcast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 03:49:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16946427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiamondFears/pseuds/DiamondFears
Summary: Idi's night after losing Dinen. Listen to the beginning of the story on the Torchbearer Podcast!https://anchor.fm/windy8/episodes/Torchbearers---Episode-01---Welcome-to-My-DnD-Podcast-This-One-Sounds-Real-Bad-e2kfvr





	Night of the Torchbearer

The mark on her wrist was still there.

For the millionth time, Idi’s eyes traced the lines that made up the whorls of fire and the torch below it. For some reason, she expected the thing to vanish. She certainly didn’t feel like she deserved it, even if she wasn’t quite sure what it meant.

Feeling another downward spiral coming on, she sighed and repositioned herself under her blankets. Pulling Kairon’s sword closer to her, she closed her eyes and tried to remember her lover. She hadn’t been able to trance for hours, and this usually did the trick, especially when she was under a lot of stress. This time all that she could conjure through her haze of fatigue was his deep voice and the way his heavy hand would comb through her hair. As the words she had heard so often when he was alive drifted through her mind on repeat, she felt herself falling deeper and deeper into semi-consciousness. 

“Sleep, Little Warrior. Please rest. Tomorrow promises new challenges. You must meet them at your best.”

When her eyes next opened, Idi knew she was in a dream. Everything around her had a misty quality and her senses were all muddled. Usually she was able to pull herself to a different part of her mind that would promise better rest, but something kept her right where she was.

Focusing on what was in front of her, she started to recognize she was in a memory from not too long ago. A few days before arriving in Anchor, she had been staying in Neverwinter with Dinen and Star. They had just fixed Dinen’s staff and had decided to rest before figuring out their next steps. Star had been steadfast about staying with Dinen, and Idi had found that she was starting to agree. 

At the moment she was working on a letter to Daara. Looking down at the parchment in front of her, only one line in the center of the page appeared legible:

...I have decided to stay with this tiny tribe of mine. They have come to mean a great deal to me these past few months…

She remembered how the rest of the letter had talked about the logistics of her staying away longer than anticipated. How much Daara’s tribe meant to her, how she missed everyone. Every time she tried to read a different part of the letter, though, the words would blur and her focus would keep coming back to the same place on the page.

Deciding to move on, she looked up from her letter...and almost came to tears again.

Sitting across from her, Star was teaching a card game to Dinen. Star was obviously cheating, and he winked over at her as he laid down his next card. Dinen, completely oblivious to the deception, frowned and picked up the card. “How’d you do this?”

Star smiled innocently at them, “How’d I do what?”

They held up the card, “This card shouldn’t be here. You told me to count them, so I did, and this one-” They stopped themselves, eyes going wide in wonder, “Oh!”

“Yeah, Din, I-”

“It’s magic!”

Star’s face fell, “No. No, not magic. I cheated.”

As the two of them went back and forth over what cheating was and why someone would do it, Idi just watched the two of them. It hadn’t been until they were gone from her that she could truly realize how much she had come to love them. Dinen for their innocence and how they were so open to everyone around them. Star for how fiercely he cared for his friends, even if he was overly cautious at times.

She loved Daara’s tribe more than the world, but she had never felt the way she did now. Connected. Wanted. Not since-

Her thoughts cut short as a man with dark hair and even darker eyes caught her attention behind her friends. His pace was slow, yet determined as he strode up to them, his hands tied in front of him. For some reason she didn’t trust those binds.

Immediately, Idi sprung into action, turning first to Star and then Dinen. “Move! Both of you. It isn’t safe here. We have to go!”

Star was up and out of his seat in an instant, spotting the same threat that Idi had and outing his weapons. Dinen, however, stayed right where they were, slowly gathering up the cards into a neat stack and then sitting back, gently cradling their staff. They looked over their shoulder at Ace and when their gaze fell back on Idi, their eyes were awash in blue light, just as they had been in the Torchbearer’s hideout.

When they spoke, their voice had the same multi-tone resonance that it had earlier, “Are you afraid?”

As the words came out, Ace’s unbound hands wrapped around Dinen’s throat, pulling them up out of the chair. The little elf seemed unharmed, but kept staring with that glowing gaze, waiting for a response.

“Din, stay still. I’ll get you away from him.” As her fear built inside her, she went for Kairon’s sword on her back, only to find something tangled around her fingers. When she looked down, she saw the ropes that had bound Ace now coiled in her palms. In a panic, she threw them to the ground. As she did, Dinen’s voices came at her again.

“There is no need to fear. It will be ok.”

Ace and Dinen had moved and were now out of range for an attack, standing in front of an open portal. Idi was dimly aware, too, that Star was right on top of them, but every move he made against Ace had no effect. Deciding they would get nowhere with that approach, she jumped up over the table and ran full speed for her friend. 

“No! He’ll hurt you! I won’t let him. I can’t lose you, too.”

She wouldn’t let this happen again. Least of all in her own mind. She kept running, her feet hitting the ground hard, her thighs burning with effort. But the closer she got, the further they seemed. She should have done this before. She should have fucking charged them. She should have run her sword through that muscular monstrosity of a cocky-ass guard.

Wait. Where was the guard?

As soon as the thought processed, there he was, just as big and obnoxious as before. He spread his arms wide to block her, and she tried her best to side-step him, but he ended up catching her around the waist and hoisting her uselessly over his shoulder. He held her legs against his chest so she couldn’t kick, which left her hands braced against his broad back in an effort to keep herself upright.

She struggled anyway, pounding against his back. She could still see her friend, and if she got away now she could get to them. Ace was now backing into the portal, one foot still on solid ground and the other in darkness. She still had time. She still-

The guard held her tighter, sliding her down his body so she could still see behind him, but now when he spoke, his low tone ghosted over her ear. “Don’t get your friend killed, Princess.”

That was not the guard’s voice. It was one she hadn’t heard in decades. One that still sent a shiver up her spine and froze her on the spot. The voice of her captor, King Aranmalda Banin.

She stopped, powerless against the reminder that he still held power over her. And if that man was alive, he would find a way to hurt her. The easiest way being those she loved.

Surrendering to the guard’s hold, she desperately locked eyes with Ace as he went further into the portal. Her voice came out as a whisper against her enemy’s heavy shoulder, “Please don’t hurt them. Please.”

Ace’s step seemed to waver and before he sank into the darkness of the portal he opened his mouth to respond to her. No words came forth, however. Instead, a steady flame seemed to burn in the back of his throat, the light emanating from it becoming brighter and brighter...

 

Idi found herself on her own two feet back in the hideout, standing over Ace who was chained in the middle of the room. Her fingertips were inches away from his face, and she jerked them away, taking in the rest of her surroundings. The room was cold, colder than the one in the waking world had been, and across from her where the room that once held the Five Eyed Veil should be, there was just a door to a white void guarded by two eerie spirits. 

Taking a step towards the room, she paused, realizing she felt far lighter than normal. Upon looking down at herself she realized that instead of her tribe’s pelts, she now wore the golden, shimmering servant’s gown of Castle Banin. More importantly, though, her weapons were gone. Including Kairon’s sword.

As panic began to swell, a voice started to speak, the sound reverberating around the room, “Please, you guys, this isn’t right. We should let him go.”

Idi frantically twisted around, looking for Dinen in the barren room. “Din? Are you here, babe? Are you hurt?”

“Plea-... this isn-... let -im go.” The words sounded distant this time, under stress.

“Dinen!” She practically screamed the name, “I’m here! Tell me where you are!”

Chains rattled behind her, drawing her attention back to Ace. He was rising to his feet, his head still bowed so she couldn’t see his eyes. “You’re the reason they’re gone, you know. And why they’ll never come back.” Again, this wasn’t Ace’s voice, but someone from her past. This one she was used to, especially in her dreams. She’d spent most of her life trying to ignore the way she was put at ease by its soothing tone. With her nerves as they were, however, that wasn’t quite working. 

She could feel herself inching toward it. Longing for its comfort. “You’re wrong. I knew my limits. I might have hurt Dinen if I fought them.”

He raised his head so they were eye to eye. How surreal to hear her prince’s voice from Ace’s mouth. “You can’t believe that, little bird. All the skill that you’ve acquired, and you think you couldn’t take out two men?” He took a step toward her, “You think you couldn’t have avoided one tiny target?” Another step, “Tell the truth, Iraia. Your friend would be safe if your own fear hadn’t gotten in the way.”

“I’m not afraid.” The words came out as a whisper. She was trying not to get swept up, but he was too close to her, the voice too soothing, smile beguiling, the fierceness in those dark eyes so alluring. “I’ve never shied from a fight in my life.”

Ace let out a small chuckle. He was so close now that the action disturbed the hair at her temple. “Of that, we are of the same mind. It was not the fight you feared.” He took one final step toward her, the chains now taut so he couldn’t move any further. Placing his forehead against hers, he looked her dead in the eye, “Your friends will learn your weaknesses sooner or later. Your connection to royalty. What will happen to you if you’re caught.” He moved so his cheek brushed hers, “Your subservience to beauty.” Moving back a fraction, he spoke a breath away from her lips, “You may have run from your title, little bird, but you cannot hide from the Banin blood in your veins.” If she so much as exhaled she would be touching him, consumed by him. “Come home, Iraia. Carry the burden of your actions so those you care for will not have to.”

It could have been so easy to give in. So much of what he said had been correct. But she had been away from the Crown for so long, that now even to her ears those last words were steeped in manipulation. Two could play at that. Taking a step back she eyed him warily, “I will make this right. You are welcome to help, Ace.”

Confusion contorted his features, “What are you-”

“Is this really what you want? To do whatever your father tells you? I hear that you’ve been here for quite and while and he hasn’t come for you. Are you sure staying on his side is a wise choice?”

He stayed quiet at that, emotions warring on his face.

She held up her wrist where the Torchbearer mark was now illuminated. “You were marked, just as we were. I have a feeling everything will go a lot smoother if we work together.” She turned from him then, unlacing her gown as she went. Every inch of the elegant garment that came off of her was replaced by the warmth of her pelts, and gradually she felt the weight of her sword return to her back. Calling over her shoulder she said, “Our judgement will be a lot less painful than your father’s. You are more than welcome to join us whenever you’re ready.”

With that she strode toward the open door that now had the phases of the moon interspersed with five eyes around it. The guardian spirits had morphed into her two newest friends, Iif and Thorra, and they held their hands out to her in welcome as she approached. This mission would be dangerous, yes, but she would make sure no one got hurt. Everyone would come out on the other side safe. A newfound confidence propelled her steps as she got closer to the door. Once she went through she would be one step closer to her friend, one step closer to righting her mistake.

Just as she was about to go through, someone appeared in front of her, blocking her way.

Since she’d known him, Star Thunder had never looked so imposing. Now, though, everything about him was intimidating: the height difference between them, his arms crossed over his broad chest, the pissed set of his stance, the pure venom in his eyes as he glared at her. In this singular moment, she could truly understand that he was descended from devils.

Immediately words flowed from her mouth. Apologies, promises. She knew how much Dinen meant to him, and they had been lost on her watch. She was going to make it right. She had to. She-

Star held up his hand for silence and jerked his head over to where Ace stood in an unasked ‘what about that bullshit?’

She shook her head, “I can handle it. Trust me, Star, I’ll fix it.”

In one steady step he closed the distance between them, his glare piercing through her, “You’d better,” before he picked her up by the shoulders and flung her into the void on the other side of the door.

 

 

Idi woke with a gasp stuck in her throat. Her eyes flew around her room at the inn as she tried to regain her bearings. Everything was as it should be: her sword right beside her, her pack tucked neatly in the corner, nothing out of place besides the covers she had no doubt thrown off during her nightmare. Glancing at the window, the periwinkle light showing through told her that it was just now dawn. They had gotten back late, so her friends would probably be sleeping for a couple hours more.

She couldn’t wait that long. Her body was vibrating after all that activity that had just been in her head and if she stayed still any longer she would go insane.

Sitting up, she raked her fingers through her hair, gathered it to one side, and haphazardly threw a braid together. Tugging on a cloak over her night clothes, she situated her sword on her back and left her room, and then the inn altogether. The fresh air felt good against her skin, and the jitters were slowly ebbing from her system. Maybe it would be a good idea to stay out for a bit before the others woke up. This day promised new challenges. She should meet them at her best.


End file.
